{"id":1265,"date":"2015-05-04T04:55:03","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T04:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2015-05-04T04:55:03","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T04:55:03","slug":"be-a-babe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/be-a-babe\/","title":{"rendered":"Be a Babe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Watch This:<\/p>\n<p><iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O0atjnJ912g\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But don\u2019t do that at home.\u00a0 Or in class.\u00a0 Or anywhere.\u00a0 Ever.<\/p>\n<p>Pretty straightforward right?\u00a0 I gave you a clear path to follow \u2013 and hopefully you did (and didn\u2019t just skip over the video I carefully curated from YouTube for your viewing pleasure to start skimming this post before writing a ten-word \u201cI agree, good point\u201d comment).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1266 alignleft lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Clear-Path.jpg\" alt=\"Clear Path\" width=\"276\" height=\"183\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 276px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 276\/183;\" \/>Anyways, a couple of times in class and while reading Pink, we\u2019ve spent some time discussing how customers like having a clearly defined path to follow.\u00a0 Options, murky waters, and salesy lingo all just drive the customer further away from you faster than similar sides of a magnet repel.<\/p>\n<p>As I was thinking about this, I came up with an analogy (bear with me here).\u00a0 Salespeople should be like weed whackers.\u00a0 Not sheepdogs.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"irc_mut alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQjLyJKovAFfcK6MNxFN3LcR-UgFo4l6KiRCHzvBI_he1FjNPcM\" alt=\"\" width=\"261\" height=\"393\" \/>A couple of summers ago, my dad ripped apart our backyard and put a lawn in.\u00a0 This required tons of weed whacking \u2013 we broke three whackers of the course of that summer.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve ever watched someone whack weeds, you know that if the weeds are high and unruly, you can easily see the path they\u2019ve plowed.\u00a0 The particular patch my dad was destroying had a lot of intensely prickly plants and thistles in it \u2013 but once it had been razed, my younger siblings would then traipse through the trails he had constructed for them, free of pokes and pain.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly as a salesman, you want to remove all the thistles that may be causing your prospect pain with your weed whacker \u2013 fearlessly forging ahead, helping your customer realize for themselves that the best path is the one you\u2019ve cleared.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1268 alignleft lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Sheepdog-Violence-300x289.jpg\" alt=\"Sheepdog Violence\" width=\"300\" height=\"289\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Sheepdog-Violence-300x289.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Sheepdog-Violence.jpg 450w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/289;\" \/>However, you don\u2019t want to be a sheepdog (even though we all fell in love with the ones in <em>Babe<\/em>).\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because sheepdogs get their customers to move by charging along behind them, nipping, cajoling, and forcing their sheep to figure out and choose the right path.<\/p>\n<p>As Pink would say, this is a terrible way to treat your customer!\u00a0 By the old philosophy of sales, the sheepdog approach would probably fly.\u00a0 Overwhelming them with features, benefits, and fancy language is like the dog barking harshly and attempting to force the sheep down a certain path\u2026 it works, but it\u2019s painful and leaves a horrible taste in the sheep\u2019s (customer\u2019s) mouth.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1267 alignright lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Babe-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"Babe\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Babe-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Babe.jpg 320w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/219;\" \/>But as Babe showed us, the weed whacker approach is much more effective.\u00a0 Instead of flexing his herding muscle, he instead takes time to understand the sheep and actually speak to them thereby creating a two-way, mutually-beneficial conversation.\u00a0 Then, he shows them the way and they\u00a0cooperate beautifully &#8211; and astonish everyone present. \u00a0It&#8217;s great.<\/p>\n<p>The moral of the story?\u00a0 Be a Babe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch This: But don\u2019t do that at home.\u00a0 Or in class.\u00a0 Or anywhere.\u00a0 Ever. Pretty straightforward right?\u00a0 I gave you a clear path to follow \u2013 and hopefully you did (and didn\u2019t just skip over the video I carefully curated from YouTube for your viewing pleasure to start skimming this post before writing a ten-word [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1270,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions\/1270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gccwebsites.com\/startupsales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}